• Season: 1969-70
• Date: Saturday, January 31, 1970
• Opponent: Northeastern
• Start Time: 7:30 PM ET
• Site: Curry Hicks Cage
• Special Event: none

UM Plays 2nd of Boston Trio
N.U. Coming from Big Loss
Redmen Remember Year Ago
By John Sullivan, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian Assistant Sports Editor, 1/30/1970

Playing their second of three Boston area teams in a row, the UMass basketball team hosts Northeastern University, owner of a 8-5 record and coming off a shocking 95-64 loss to Boston College, tomorrow night at the Cage. The UMass freshmen play Chamberlayne J.C. in the preliminary affair at 5:30.

In routing Boston University Wednesday night, 103-68, the Redmen embarked on a three game stretch against Beantown hoop squads. NU is the next hurdle and last but not least comes BC next Tuesday at Chestnut Hill. More will be said about the Eagles in subsequent issues but the present concern is with the Huskies of Northeastern.

At the same time UMass was punishing BU, NU vas taking its lumps from BC and ended up losing by 31 points, its worst loss in 12 years. The Huskies will be looking to make a respectable climb back into the winners column; the Redmen will be looking for revenge after having lost to NU, 68-64, last winter.

Northeastern has a talented squad with a lot of depth. It employs up to ten players interchangeably. The likely starting combo will be Jim Moxley and Kevin Shea at the forward spots, John Maheras and Bill Moore at guards and Fran Blais at center.

Moxley, a 6'3 sophomore, was a big frosh star and is in the midst of a fine sophomore season for NU. A good outside shooter, he also likes to drive for the basket and can play as a guard when called upon to.

In the 6’4 Shea, the Huskies have another versatile performer who can double as a guard. A junior, he had a solid soph season with an 8.5 scoring average in addition to being second best team rebounder.

The guards, 6’2 Maheras and 6’2 Moore, are both juniors. Maheras was steady as a soph performer and has come into his own this year. He is noted for his ball-hawking ability. Moore, on the other hand, never played in a high school basketball game. His previous experience comes from a year at Huntington Prep and two at NU, over which span he has shown much improvement.

Blais, the center, is 6’7 and the only starting senior. This is his first year as a front-liner, having subbed for departed Carl Chandler for two years. A superior Huskie performance depends on a strong floor game from Blais.

Northeastern employs its bench strength at regular intervals. Coach Duke Dukeshire frequently relies on 6’5 soph Stu LaFramboise and 6’4 soph Paul McDonough to spell Moxley and Shea at forwards and on 6’ senior Paul Swett and 6’2 junior Peter Flynn to give the guards, Maheras and Moore, a rest. Backing up Blais at center is 6’3 John Niven, a junior.

The Huskies do not have a lot of height but the talent is there, and it is deep. As UMass assistant coach Peter Broaca puts it, “They have a tremendous amount of depth, and that is what makes them so strong.”

Redmen Whip Northeastern, 90-62
4200 See UMass Win 3rd Straight
Erving 30 Points, 27 Rebounds
By John Sullivan, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian Assistant Sports Editor, 2/2/1970

A capacity Cage crowd of 4200 boisterous basketball fans saw UMass clout Northeastern University, 90-62, for its third straight victory Saturday night as Julius Erving poured through 30 points and grabbed 27 rebounds for the resurging Redmen.

The home team delighted the folks on hand with a 17-point outburst over the last six minutes of the first half to change a 32-29 deficit into a 46-34 lead at intermission. The rest of the way was easy as UMass upped its record to 8-5 and whipped its second Boston team in a row, having knocked off Boston University, 103-68, on Wednesday.

The Redmen have a chance to make that three in a row when they travel to Chestnut Hill Tuesday night to challenge Boston College.

As has been the case in so many UMass hoop contests this year, Erving was the glitter guy for the Redmen. The star sophomore forward tallied 30 points on 13 of 17 shots from the field (a blistering 76%) and four of six from the line. The nation’s second leading rebounder picked off 27 more caroms.

Not to be forgotten in the accolades accorded to Erving were the solid performances turned in by captain Ray Ellerbrook and center Ken Mathias. The former scored 15 points, 13 of them coming in the first half, and added eight assists. Mathias chipped in with 14 points as he came in to relieve Dick Samuelson in the early goings.

Northeastern had the upper hand for most of the first 14 minutes of the game. At various points, the Huskies held leads of 14-10, 21-18, 26-21, 28-23, 30-25 and 30-29.

With the score at 30-29, NU’s Kevin Shea connected on a short jumper to put his team up, 32-29, with 6:08 left in the half. The visitors would not score again until a last second buzzer shot.

Ellerbrook put UMass within one, 32-31, on a 20-footer from the baseline. Mathias followed a minute later with a short tap-in. Shortly afterwards, with 3:35 showing on the clock, Jack Gallagher completed a Redman fast break with a pretty lefthanded driving layup to put them in the lead, 35-32. He was fouled on the play and calmly added the 36th point, from the line.

As Northeastern was blowing three straight one-and-one foul situations, two hoops by Erving, two more by Ellerbrook and one more by Mathias led UMass to its 46-34 halftime lead. NU’s 34th point came at the buzzer on a 12-foot jumper by Jack Maheras.

The Redmen tallied 44 points in the second half as the closest Huskie threat came with 17:39 to go, the score reading 50-40. Erving canned five points and Mike Pagliera added two as UMass built up a 57-40 advantage with 12:39 left.

Three Erving markers, two from John Betancourt and two straight baskets by Dennis Chapman gave the home team a 20-point, 66-46, lead with 8:45 left. By this time coach Jack Leaman was making free use of his bench strength as eight different players chipped in for the last 24 Redman points and the final 28-point spread of 90-62.

HOOP NOTES – Ellerbrook, who scored his 1,000 UMass point in Wednesday’s win over Boston University, ran his total to 1,018, four points shy of sixth place on the all-time Redman scoring list … Tim Edwards has the hold on sixth position with 1,022 … Erving’s scoring average is now 26.1, his rebounding average stands at 20.5 … The Redmen shot 60.7% from the floor … With Erving, Ellerbrook and Mathias doing double-figure scoring, Leaman has been able to afford to start his strongest defensive forward, Gallagher, and the results have been excellent … Gallagher had eight points in 30 solid minutes of basketball against the Huskies Saturday; one can surely recall what the 6’4 senior did to BU’s Jim Hayes on defense … Four minutes into the second half, an abbreviated fight broke out between Mathias and NU’s Shea … Mathias got in the best shot … The Amherst Boys Club basketball teams, featuring a couple of four-year veterans, entertained the onlookers between the halves of the frosh and varsity tilts … UMass got an added lift shortly after the game when it was found out that Vermont had beaten Connecticut, which was previous undefeated in the Yankee Conference … Because Rhode Island also has one Conference loss and because the Redmen (2-2 in the Conference) still have to face both UConn and Rhody, UMass can assure itself of at least a tie for the league championship should it win the remainder of its Conference games.